The look and feel
The new website has a clear sense of purpose and a strong identity, which reflects the UTV brand more closely, including the use of the station's colour scheme in key parts of the site.
The UTV yellow, blue and red colours now form part of the navigation bar and also feature in our homepage and entertainment carousels.
The new site has a stronger visual experience, and a key change includes the introduction of pictures in our masthead.
These pictures are landscape scenes taken across Northern Ireland, and they change throughout the day and night and will be regularly updated to reflect seasonality.
A large number of the scenes already showcased come from our users, and our thanks go to them for taking part in this new feature.
News and Sport
The objective of the new website is to combine UTV's distinctive editorial voice with a clean, easy to navigate design and strong user experience.
We'll continue to bring you breaking news and sport stories, with the latest videos and blogs and analysis from the UTV Live team.
Our news section also has brand new politics and business pages, where Political Editor Ken Reid and Business Editor Jamie Delargy lead the coverage allowing greater focus and depth on the content that matters to you.
You'll still be able to contribute to UTV's coverage via our Send us Your Stories form, which now allows you to share your pictures and eyewitness footage with us.
In sport, there are now dedicated pages for each of the most popular sports in Northern Ireland (football, GAA, rugby, ice hockey and golf), with a greater emphasis on video content and galleries. Content on these pages will be expanded and developed in the weeks following the launch.
Our talkSPORT widget also allows you to keep up-to-date with the latest news from the English and Scottish premierships and beyond.
The new design should make it easier for you to find exactly what you're looking for, and also offer new ways to browse and discover more great content.
Videos and Pictures
UTV Live is the most watched news programme in Northern Ireland, and multimedia content produced by the team is now integrated across all sections of the site.
This integration allows the most relevant UTV Player content to be featured where it matters across the site. You also have easy access to the latest programmes available on the UTV Player and the most watched catch up programmes from the homepage.
In each section, we are introducing a new multimedia panel which provides a selection of the latest clips and galleries at a glance. You can watch the latest news, sport or entertainment videos directly in the panels.
Galleries now play a central role in our coverage, with the latest striking images receiving much greater prominence. Relevant galleries are directly accessible from articles in the form of a widget - so you won't miss them.
Blogs and social media
Our new blog section is much improved, featuring more voices and opinions from the UTV team and guest writers across a wider range of topics.
From consumer advice to motorsport and the stories behind the headlines at Stormont or the must-see movie of the week, there is something for everyone.
Each blogger has their own dedicated section, where you can learn more about them, read their previous posts and see what they talk about at a glance with a Wordle.
Integration with social media platforms is a key feature of the new u.tv.
A number of twitter widgets are embedded across the site, displaying the latest tweets from the people who make the news. You can easily find us on Facebook and see the latest UTV stories that people are talking about. There are also easy to use buttons to help you share our content across a range of social networks.
Weather, TV Guide, Entertainment
Our weather section has been completely revamped to give you a detailed five-day forecast for your area, with a total of 139 searchable locations across Northern Ireland.
For an at-a-glance look at what's in store for the next 24 hours, you can use our interactive maps of Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland - or read our quick weather summary.
Our weather widget in the masthead also gives you a quick indication of up-to-date weather conditions.
Our TV Guide has also been redesigned to introduce a new dynamic timeline showing full listings for the next five days and clear signposting of UTV Player catch-up for each programme.
Last but not least our expanded entertainment section now includes full live music, gig and cinema listings to find what's on near you in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Whether you want to know what's showing at your local cinema, or you're looking for an intimate local gig or a sell-out arena show, we'll help you find it.
u.tv's new design should be more mobile and tablet friendly, with content compatible across all platforms.
The relaunch is another step in the continuing evolution of the site and comes ahead of planned redevelopment of our mobile apps.
These are exciting times for u.tv, with year-on-year visits up by 52% in 2011 and record traffic figures in January 2012.
With our site relaunch, we are keen to keep this momentum going. Do not hesitate to get in touch, if you want to provide feedback.